The challenges of disputing regulatory penalty notices

The first months of 2022 came with a spate of (recently reported) tribunal decisions involving the Pensions Regulator. They were appeals against penalties imposed for various compliance failures: missing automatic enrolment declarations, tardy reactions to unpaid contributions notices, and neglecting to produce an annual governance (‘Chair’s’) statement. If there is a general lesson that one might infer, it is that anyone seeking to have a penalty overturned faces a steep uphill battle.

Work and Pensions Committee: recent activity

There has been a flurry of activity from the House of Commons Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) recently including the Government response to the WPC recommendations on accessing pension savings, the Treasury’s response to a letter on the collection of unauthorised payment charges from scam victims, various letters from the Committee chair Stephen Timms and a second call for evidence on saving for later life.

Pension Schemes Newsletter 139

Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) published a May 2022 edition of its pensions tax bulletin. It contains information for administrators operating relief at source, and yet another reminder about migrating schemes from the old Pension Schemes Online service to its successor, Managing Pension Schemes (which needs to be done soon if an Accounting For Tax return for Q2 2022 must be submitted). In the latter case, there is a suggestion that some people have tried to register new schemes instead of transferring the existing ones across to the new service.